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clap:Foxbat strikes again with this outstanding "well worn" realistic finish with the MiG-23MF. Bravo. We need some more photos comrade. What a collection of MiG's you are putting together!! Great work there on assembly and finish.:thumbs up

The big Tumanskii 12,500 kgf engine could drive it in clean configuration to a sustained Mach 2.4 at 36,000 feet i.e. at that speed the engine had spare revs still in its pocket. In straight line acceleration it could out fly the F-4 and early model F-16s. The IAF discovered that while the MiG-23MF was a great climb and intercept aircraft it was no dogfighter and that usually does not sit well with the IAF. Aerodynamic design was excellent as was most often the case with Soviet jets especially from the MiG bureau. The stability of its aerodynamic design was best demonstrated by the MiG-23 that flew pilotless for 900 kms from the Warsaw Pact to Belgian before running out of fuel and crashing. I'm sure most readers have read this before but sharing the link nevertheless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Belgium_MiG-23_crash

Thanks Narayan, unfortunately I'm not in Hyderabad for a few weeks so can't take any more photos, here are some I took before.





This is my second Mig-23, I made this one 20+ years ago as a child and it still survives.


One of the lesser known stories of the Mig-23 is how it was used to shoot down the mighty F-14 in the Iran-Iraq war killing Iran's top F-14 ace, Hashem All-e-Agha:

Puzzled by this message, the Iraqi ground controller required an explanation, and Ameer replied that there was an “F-14 sitting right in front … 500 meters or less away!”
He was ordered to calm down, decelerate and thus fall back within the minimal range for R-60M missiles. Within seconds, one of these acquired the target and Ameer squeezed the trigger.
The crew of the Tomcat in question consisted of All-e-Agha and 1st Lt. Mohammad Rostampour. They had been airborne for hours and had survived at least one engagement with another formation of Iraqi MiGs earlier the same day. They focused their attention northward as the MiG-23s approached from the west.
“Despite our high altitude, the visibility was poor,” Rostampour recalled. “We switched the position with our wingman while turning port towards the coast. After that turn, Hashem felt some movement in his controls and requested our wingman to check our six, and also make a visual inspection of our aircraft for possible combat damage. When the wingman looked back, he saw a missile approaching and — bang! Our right engine was hit!”
“I was knocked unconscious by the impact,” Rostampour continued. “When I recovered, I felt as hot as in a sauna. The cockpit hood was still intact, but our aircraft was afire and the sea surface rapidly approaching. Instinctively, I pulled the handle and ejected both of us, crashing into the water only seconds later. [My vision] was still poor and I couldn’t see very far. I also needed minutes to reach my dinghy and climb into it. Once outside the water, I called for Hashem several times, and I heard his voice calling back. But he was never found.”



Source: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/ira...t-bbd4c6a48313

Brilliant!!!! Loved the weathered & greasy look of the model. This probably is your best work so far!!!! Keep it up. :Cheering:

The pics of your IAF MiG-23MF & MiG-27M are such a treat to look at. I hope you build a MiG-23BN & MiG-23UM in IAF livery to complete the Flogger quadruplet in IAF service :cool:.

While No. 224 Sqdn "Warlords" operated the MiG-23MF the longest, the IAF's first MiG-23MF Sqdn - No.223 "Tridents" operated it for a very short period. 223 Sqdn were initially known as the "Swing Wing Interceptors" before being re-christened as "Tridents" when they became the third IAF MiG-29 Sqdn in the late 80s or early 90s.

We lost one of our 1971 War heroes(then Wg Cdr Roy Andrew Massey of Battle of Boyra fame) in a MiG-23MF crash in the early 80s after a bird hit. He may have been the Sqdn CO or a Flight Commander of the Warlords at the time of his crash. 224 Sqdn was numberplated in 2007 in Jamnagar and re-raised on the Jaguar IS DARIN II later.

Thanks Skanchan. The level of detail of plastic kits varies a lot and this Mig-23 kit came with very minute panel line details which come out in the weathering process. When you compare with the Mig-27 which was a low cost basic kit you can see the missing panel lines on the wings and the fuselage.

The greasy looks is because I applied to much clear coat finish :D

This will be the last model I assemble for at least a few months, too much time was spent on making these which could have been better utilised elsewhere. ;)

:Shockked:

But Sir, how were early model F-16A's with sidewinders more potent than Mig-29s and Mirage 2000s with BVR missiles in the 1980s? Infact even Mig-23MF's had BVR and a skillful pilot could use the Floggers speed advantage to keep himself away from range of Sidewinders.

Comrade, by bad. Thank you for pointing that out. You are right about the Mirage 2000 with BVR and Mig-29 with BVR and its wonderful R-73 {Archer} AAM were more than a match for the early model F-16s. Mirage 2000 comparable but inferior in dog fighting but better in BVR and endurance. MiG-29 {early models of the late 1980s that we got} were better in a dog fight & BVR but woefully short on legs. MiG-23MF was okay okay with its BVR. It was all told a hasty purchase and we discovered it wasn't all it was cracked up to be in air dominance. Also BVR has taken 20+ years to mature into being truly effective just like IR guided short range AAMs really became fully reliable and effective only by the late 1970s. The BVR today as you know is way way ahead in IFF and sustaining its track than the first generation BVRs of the MiG-23MF. In the 1980s {1983 I think} I wrote a strong rebuttal letter to some magazine whose editor was MJ Akbar on the scathing attacks that were being made against the IAF's then fleet of MiG-21s, Sepecat Jaguars versus the incoming PAF F-16s, ageing fleet, tin cans and what not. The F-16s were being positioned as the ultimate weapon. How much the journalist knew was evident from his comparing the F-16 with the Jaguar! The office of the then CoAS, ACM Dilbagh Singh called me {God knows how his office tracked me down in an era before internet & cell phones} and thanked me for the letter to editor. This was the first of two occasions this happened. :cool: Letters to editor sadly have all but died out now.

Interesting incident which is not well known, the only Mirage 2000 vs F-16 dogfight in real life ended with the F-16D being shot down with a R.550 Magic II missile.

On the eighth of October 1996, seven months after the escalation of the Imia/Kardak crisis, a Greek Mirage 2000 reportedly fired an R.550 Magic II missile and shot down a Turkish F-16D over the Aegean Sea near Chios island.The Turkish pilot died, while the co-pilot ejected and was rescued by Greek forces.In August 2012, after the downing of a RF-4E on the Syrian Coast, Turkish Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz confirmed that the Turkish F-16D was shot down by a Greek Mirage 2000 with an R.550 Magic II in 1996 after violating Greek airspace near Chios island.

Maybe the PR department at General Dynamics wants to keep this a secret:D

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_T...F-16_shootdown


Thats a very interesting incident and amazing to know the IAF was able to track you down in those days. Perhaps you should start writing in some online aerospace defence websites? I'm sure many would let you write a few articles given your wealth of experience in Aviation.

Loved it.clap: Thank you for sharing. Didn't know of this. Always something to learn.
Don't encourage old men. We don't know when to stop talking or preaching. :-) the second incident was circa 1992 when a journalist Swaminathan Aiyer wrote something in the Sunday edition of some English daily about MiG-21 crashes & pilot competence etc. As expected I dug my teeth into him through a letter to the editor. And this time ACM NC Suri's office called. NC Suri I got to know socially many years later in the 2000s and he recalled the incident!!!Good man.

Are the wings fixed or retractable?
Also are there any kits with movable wings?

Sorry for nit picking, model would looked much better in matte finish.

The wings are movable and I am yet to see any built or assembled model without movable wings for a swing wing aircraft. Usually their are gears inside so the wings move together but that mechanism is surprisingly missing from the Mig-23.



Clear Coat spray is necessary for finishing as it protects the decals, paint and weathering effects from deterioration. In this case I may have put too much and the model was not completely dry.

When life gives you lemons make lemonade!:)

I restarted making models after 20+ years due to the Covid lockdown and after about a year have managed to complete the Mig series: Mig-15, Mig-17, Mig-19, Mig-21, Mig-23, Mig-25, Mig-27, Mig-29 and Mig-31.

clap:An outstanding achievement especially considering you assembled and painted each yourself, or most in any case. Congratulations. What a line up of what IMHO is the greatest sustained fighter design house the world ever saw. Designing, testing, building & improving upon world beaters for 60 years is no mean feat. Comrades Mikoyan and Gurevich send you their regards from the skies beyond. This is a scale modelers dream. :thumbs up You should rightfully be proud.

PS: are all to the same scale?

Thank you, yes I wish Comrades Mikoyan and Gurevich were alive to see this day:Cheering:

Apart from the Mig-15 which is a built model I assembled and painted each one and made sure each and every model kit, paints and glue were not made in any evil Asian communist country before ordering.

Yes all are 1:72 Scale, I'm very particular about numbers as I analyse data for a living! But I thought you would know that given your encyclopaedia knowledge of Mig facts and figures;)

The Red Order of Stain cometh your way.:Cheering:What!!!! not made in a Communist country.....:Shockked: You mean you are on a revenge against China journey:-)
I figured but as the photo had depth thought I'd double check. Interesting how big the MiG-31 is. Thank you for your compliment. :-) The end, effectively, of the MiG bureau was for me the saddest aviation outcome of the collapse of the USSR. In the early 1990s Russia show cased the MiG-21-93 at several airshows. Belyakov himself used to present. He was the successor to Mikoyan. By early 1990s he was already in his 70s. That gave me huge hope that the MiG bureau will survive. Alas.

Yes #BoycottChina campaign is well and alive (now only if the wife was onboard :D)

Given this post and your collection I knew you knew the relative sizes:


Yes its sad the bureau is no more but the name lives on as "RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT CORPORATION “MiG”", they have three products on sale: Mig-29, Mig-35 and even the Mig-31E!

http://www.migavia.ru/index.php/en/